The changing of Winter | ✔

|04| - Mean Ghouls

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《Southern California - October 15, 2020》

There was a massive crowd in the main hallway.

"Uhhhh-uhhhh." the kids and teens passing from room to room sounded like a moaning, groaning symphony.

"Is it always like this?" I ask Jesse, shouting above the racket.

"Always," he replied in a loud voice. "You'll get used to it." Just then, he let out a huge groan of his own.

If you can't beat em', join em' ..

As we walked our way through out the crowd, I saw a girl drop a piece of paper. The girl didn't notice, instead, she kept walking. The ruffles of her small fancy dark green cobalt dress swishing around as she continued to walk down the hallway.

"Hey wait!" I called out. "You dropped your---"

The hallway was so packed and the groaning so loud, that the girl couldn't possibly hear me.

"No worries," I say to myself as I bent down to get the paper. "I'll get it." But by the time I stood up and looked around, the girl was gone.

"What's that?" Jesse asked, eyeing the paper in my hand.

"I don't know," I say looking down to see neat cursive loopy handwriting on the yellowed stationery. It was crinkled at the edges as if it had been read over and over again. "It's a letter from someone's mom," I said to him. "I'm sure whoever it belongs to, would want it back."

"Tell me who it's to," he said. "It'll be easy to return. I know everyone."

I was being careful, trying not to read the letter---that would be rude. I only looked at the beginning and the ending. "Dear Annabeth." And "Love, Mother."

"Who's Annabeth?" Jesse asked.

"I thought that you knew everyone," I contracted with a wink.

He shrugged. "So did I."

"I got this one covered," I say. "I saw who dropped it." I held the letter carefully so I wouldn't add any more creases.

We reached the math classroom, to three girls huddled in front of the door, whispering to one another.

The girl who dropped the letter was a tall Asian girl; with long dark hair that looked like she hadn't brushed it in years. Her little cobalt dress might have been nice if someone hadn't run over it repeatedly with a car .. There was an abvious tire track down the back, mud splatters covered the satin skirt, and deep tears ran across the frilly material. She also had an oozing neck wound, which she attempted to cover up with a small silk scarf.

I rushed forward. "Annabeth?" I say, but the girl didn't turn around, so I tapped her on the shoulder and shouted over the moans echoing through the wallway. "Annabeth?" I say again, a bit louder.

A few kids nearby quieted down and stared at me with wide eyes.

The girl turned around to face me. Her friends stood beside her, no longer in a tight circle, but in an imposing line, like a wall.

"Uhh .. you're Annabeth, right?" I say as I hold out the paper.

"No." She looked at the letter, but didn't reach out to take it.

"But I---" I was confused. I'd seen this girl drop it, my memory seemed fine. I was one hundred percent sure this was the same girl.

"She said that's not her name." Said a blond, super thin girl with skin so white it was almost see-through. She wore a white and purple headband, with colorful bellbottom pants. It looked like she walked straight out of the 70s. She stepped forward.